Federal Times is meeting with federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel on Wednesday to discuss information technology trends and initiatives. As a reader, what would you ask the federal CIO? You can reply directly or send responses to njohnson@federaltimes.com.
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The Navy will not release a final request for proposal to industry for its Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN) program as planned, according to a post Friday on the Federal Business Opportunities website. The RFP likely will not be released before the end of January 2012, the Navy said in a follow-up news release. Initially, the Navy had planned to release an RFP to industry on Dec. 21. Instead, the Navy will release an update to its draft RFP around Dec. 19 for industry review and comment. The revisions include sections L and M of the draft RFP, which detail…
The U.S. Postal Service and two of its major unions will stay at the bargaining table for at least another week-and-a-half, all sides said today in separate news releases. An earlier extension of contract negotiations with the National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union was on track to expire today; that deadline is now midnight, Dec. 16. “We have been working in good faith to hammer out a new contract and we hope that this extension will lead to an agreement that our members can enthusiastically ratify,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said. Previous contracts for both…
In opening my emails every morning I’m accustomed to a plethora of press releases. Today the release that caught my eye was the announcement of President Obama signing an executive order to cut federal agency travel, printing and IT costs. However it wasn’t the “news” in the release that has me blogging. It’s the use of the word swag. Sports reporters have been using the word for months now. There is no doubt that you will hear swag used if you tune into ESPN’s SportsCenter. But I didn’t expect the White House to jump on the bandwagon. Is it just…
One of the unfortunate side effects of the foreclosure crisis is that it’s created adjudication problems for clearance holders or applicants who end up with a bad credit report through no real fault of their own, according to attorneys who specialize in these types of cases. If that’s happened to you, we’re interested in hearing your story. Please email Sean Reilly at sreilly@federaltimes.com. Thanks very much!
At the National Archives’ Information Security Oversight Office, they were celebrating today’s release of a first-ever registry for controlled unclassified information, as the government describes records deemed worthy of some protection but not outright classification as secret, top secret, etc. Although a lot of work remains, the new registry “is certainly an important milestone,” John Fitzpatrick, the office’s director, said in a phone interview this morning. To date, agencies have pretty much been winging it in deciding what should fall under the CUI umbrella and what to call it (Examples include “Sensitive,” Law Enforcement Sensitive,” and “For Official Use Only”). …
One of the oddities of this summer’s partial Federal Aviation Administration shutdown was that the agency would never say exactly how many employees were furloughed as a result. “Nearly 4,000” was the stock phrase used by FAA officials, who refused to provide a more precise figure. Not clear why they were so coy (this is supposed to be the most transparent administration in American history, after all), but FedLine’s curiosity was piqued, a Freedom of Information Act request was filed and the answer came back late last month: 3,750. The estimated cost in lost payroll for the two-week furlough (and…
Who says that government work is dull? The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency recently held its 14th annual awards ceremony and the range of honorees gives some idea of the breadth of the assignments carried out by departmental and special watchdogs. The winner of the Alexander Hamilton Award, for example, was the Bridge Safety Improvement Team at the Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General, which was saluted for “significant contributions” to bridge safety through improvements to federal and state inspections and other oversight activities. The Sentner Award for Dedication and Courage went to a group at…
The Transportation Security Administration has initiated disciplinary action against an employee who told a female passenger to “Get her freak on” in a handwritten note placed inside her bag. The passenger tweeted a picture of the note – which was written on a “Notice of Inspection” form that TSA places inside checked bags that are going to be searched. The employee has been removed from screening duty and is awaiting further disciplinary action. According to the TSA blog: “The handwritten note was highly inappropriate and unprofessional, and TSA has zero tolerance for this type of behavior. Agency officials have also…
You know things are getting bad when even fictional jobs are no longer safe. Congress was given until Oct. 14 to make recommendations to the Super Committee tasked with finding at least 1.2 trillion in savings over the next 10 years. What Congress sent their way was a veritable cornucopia of suggestions ranging from cuts to the federal workforce to opening up federal land to oil drilling. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia offered a wide array of possible spending cuts – including…